Teams from Jacksonville heading to LeMons endurance races

Published: Friday, March 15, 2013 at 08:00 AM.

Team members took turns driving seven hours each of the two days of their first race.

“We ended up in 55th place, but it was good because we actually finished the race,” Steve Henkle said.

With modifications and experience from the September race, the team expects the car to run faster and accelerate quicker in Saturday’s race.

Fire Truck team

The Fire Truck team includes Dave Shepard and his son David, Jr. of O’Riley’s Auto Parts; Coast Guardsman Billy Taylor, Tim Stone and Jim Howard, an automotive emissions instructor at Coastal Carolina Community College.

The team is driving a 1991 Chevy S10 with an ol’ timey fire truck theme. The car will be painted red with a red light bar on top, a ladder down the passenger side and simulated drafting hoses on the driver’s side.

“We don’t have a prayer of a chance of winning but we will have fun. That’s what it is all about,” Shepard said. “Besides, I don’t have room to bring home $501 in nickels.”

Area drivers competing in a weekend race say they don’t necessarily expect to win the purse. They will just be happy to finish the race.

At least three teams from Jacksonville will be racing this weekend at CarolinaMotorsportsPark in Kershaw, S.C., in the 24 Hours of LeMons endurance races for cars that cost $500 or less. Although the teams have invested untold evenings turning wrenches until midnight, about $4,000 for required safety equipment for their lemon car and paid a $500 entry fee plus $100 per driver, most drivers say they don’t expect to bring home the $501 prize — paid out in nickels, no less.

“(The purse) is a big pile of nickels, but I don’t think we’ll win it. We are not that good of drivers” said John Talt team member Steve Henkle, a retired Marine and computer technology instructor at CoastalCarolinaCommunity College. “It is a cheap way to get into racing, but we do it for the fun. Driving away from another car at 100 mph. Yeah, we do it for the fun of it.”

Fellow team member Gary Potter had a more succinct reason for spending the time and money on worn out cars that may not finish the race — or even make it home.

“Because I’m crazy,” said Potter, who also works at the college. “We drove out to see a race last spring and got enamored with it. We thought it was a lot of fun.”

‘Halloween meets gasoline’

24 Hours of LeMons is not to be — and is probably not very likely to be — confused with 24 Hours of LeMans, the world’s oldest sports car race held in LeMans, France. Except for the safety gear and equipment, which must be approved, 24 Hours of LeMons is not serious racing. These races include unusual penalties and punishments, such as the Colonel Sanders where teams are tarred and feathered, meted out by judges spinning the Wheel of Misfortune. Teams spend as much time and effort on their theme as getting the car ready to race.

24 Hours of LeMons was founded in 2006 by author/editor Jay Lamm as a progression of a 500-kilometer road rally for $500 vehicles. The car with the most laps in a 14-hour period wins the race. The website says the races are inexplicably presented by Car and Driver and are “where Halloween meets gasoline.” Organizers say on the website that if you don’t know what you are doing, “we don’t either. This whole ‘expert’ schtick is just pathetic male compensation. Don’t sweat it.”

Judges encourage contenders to keep it simple by finding a car that already runs and install safety equipment per the LeMons rule book. “Congratulations,” the site explains, “you just built a race car.”

Several teams from Onslow left Thursday to compete in the testosterone fueled races.

John Galt team

In fall 2011, Henkle, the computer instructor at Coastal, saw an article on LeMons racing in Car and Driver magazine and decided to see a race. That spurred Henkle and his team members — his son, Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher Hinkle; Potter, department head of the automotive technology department at Coastal; and Potter’s son Sam — to purchase a 1991 4-cylinder Mustang with 386,000 miles on the engine for competition.

To prepare the car for their first race in September, the team stripped all nonessentials —including the seats — from the car. They installed safety equipment, including a full roll cage, a racing seat, fire extinguishing system, 5-point safety harness, electrical kill switch and safety net on the windows. Team members also purchased personal fire suits, helmets, Nomex racing shoes and even underwear.

The team named their car John Galt after a character from the book Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. In the book, Galt “stopped the motor of the world.”

Team members took turns driving seven hours each of the two days of their first race.

“We ended up in 55th place, but it was good because we actually finished the race,” Steve Henkle said.

With modifications and experience from the September race, the team expects the car to run faster and accelerate quicker in Saturday’s race.

Fire Truck team

The Fire Truck team includes Dave Shepard and his son David, Jr. of O’Riley’s Auto Parts; Coast Guardsman Billy Taylor, Tim Stone and Jim Howard, an automotive emissions instructor at Coastal Carolina Community College.

The team is driving a 1991 Chevy S10 with an ol’ timey fire truck theme. The car will be painted red with a red light bar on top, a ladder down the passenger side and simulated drafting hoses on the driver’s side.

“We don’t have a prayer of a chance of winning but we will have fun. That’s what it is all about,” Shepard said. “Besides, I don’t have room to bring home $501 in nickels.”

Bosozoku and Irish Car Bomb team

The Bosozoku and Irish Car Bomb team includes Brian Marshburn, Chance Becker and Shawn Curtis of Prestigious Metal; Dave Uzzell and Joey Hudler of Modern Tire; and Tommy Collins of Collins Welding. They will drive two cars: a 1992 Nissan Sentra customized with judge approved Bosozoku, an outlandish Japanese style with oversized fender flares and a rear wing spoiler; and a 1999 Ford Contour dressed up as an Irish Car Bomb with a giant Irish hat on it.

In the first race the team was penalized 25,000 laps for a turbo charged engine that is only sold in Japan. The laps were reduced down to 1,000 after “a cheesy bribe.” The turbo charged engine has been removed for this weekend’s race and the car is expected to be categorized as a B class which is a “decently reliable” average car.

Marshburn said he hopes to finish the race but doesn’t expect his team to win because they are contending with some NASCAR teams and professional drivers.

They all use golf carts to wander from tent to tent and eat food. There is a lot of bartering for food and parts that goes on.

The team plans to stuff hot dogs with cheese and bacon and deep fry them in bacon grease to trade with a Russian team that makes “great” lamb skewers. Also, the Duff Brewery Team from Raleigh owns a brewery and barters beer for food.

Spectators are encourage. General access paddock passes available at the gate are $20 per day or $30 for the weekend. Kids under 16 are free.

Marshburn said it has been a lifelong dream of his to be a race car driver.

“This is a kind of racing,” said Marshburn, who works at Vital Signs in Jacksonville. Of course, he countered, “It is more of a party.”